Repeal the Irish Blasphemy Law

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Please leave your blasphemy support messages for the campaign to remove the offence of blasphemy from Irish legislation and the Irish constitution.

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This will help our campaign to remove blasphemy from Irish law.

Ireland currently has a offence of Blasphemy on its statutes, not from medieval times, but introduced in 2009. The supporters used a blasphemy clause in the Irish constitution to justify its instruction. The present government was leaning towards a referendum to remove blasphemy from the Irish constitution but then in late December said it would not meet this commitment and is continuing to hold fast despite the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the subsequent calls around the world for the defense of freedom of speech. Some religious media commentators said they would be taking legal advice for any publications showing the Charlie Hebdo cover and virtually all have chosen not to do so for fear of breaking the law.

5 Comments

Keith SmithJanuary 19, 2015

I will not stand by and allow any citizen be prosecuted for blasphemy.
Until we get this medieval law abolished,
Atheists must assemble and march in the event of any legal case taken
by the sub-species of “believers” that we have to share our country with.

Keith, your comments will do nothing to spread the joy of Atheism. In fact, your comment shows you up to be just as vindictive, segregationist, and narrow minded as the worst of believers. Sub species, give me a break. I would rather share my country with decent human beings, who all follow the same civic laws, than with people who think like you. I too will be the first to march if this ridiculous law is imposed because its repugnant to the civil liberties many people have worked tirelessly to make a reality.

I support removing the Blasphemy law from the Irish statutes. It has no place in a modern forward thinking state. It belongs in the Stone Age. Surely prosecutions could not be made as the principal witness is unlikely to ever show up in court?????

A Chara,
I find your analysis simplistic and somewhat biased..
Here are the key articles from the Defamation Act 2009, which was made law after the Supreme Court finding of 1999. There is a definition of blasphemous matter below in section 36, and a key element is the intention to cause outrage. PLease note that there is no mention af anyone’s god.

In the absence of the Hate Bill, which has yet to be discussed in the Dail, I would be unwilling to undermine any piece of legislation which supports the criminality of incitement to hate, outrage, etc. For me this is the nub, not the existence or not of a God, but the potential to use religion and a means of incitement to outrage and hate.
[No. 31.] Defamation Act 2009. [2009.]
PART 5
Criminal Liability
35.—The common law offences of defamatory libel, seditious libel and obscene libel are abolished.

36.— (1) A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €25,000.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if—

(a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and
(b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.

(3) It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates.

(4) In this section “religion” does not include an organisation or cult—

(a) the principal object of which is the making of profit, or
(b) that employs oppressive psychological manipulation—
(i) of its followers, or
(ii) for the purpose of gaining new followers.

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